


The Road to Marriage

by RoseClara28



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Family, Fluff, Future Fic, Humor, Marriage, Parenthood, Pregnancy, Romance, Wedding, autistic author, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29036520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseClara28/pseuds/RoseClara28
Summary: Lea and Shaun thought marriage was overrated and would keep cohabitating, but they never thought they would change their minds. This is the story of Shaun and Lea's road to marriage.
Relationships: Lea Dilallo/Shaun Murphy
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally supposed to be a whole one-shot, but then I decided to divide it up into four chapters. I hope you all enjoy and feel free to review :)

Shaun never understood why society had this desire to place marriage on a pedestal and why many people viewed it as a prerequisite for having children. He knew that a couple needed to get married to legitimize their unborn child back in the 1800s and before, but the system didn't operate that way anymore. Also, people didn't marry for love back then either; it was for economic and social reasons; arranged marriages were products of hierarchical systems and classism. Some neurotypicals even foolishly believed it would alleviate poverty.

As for Lea, she often dreamed of having the perfect wedding as a little girl. In fact, she was married once...back when she was young and naive. She married her high school sweetheart only to get divorced eight months later when they both realized that it was a mistake. Since her divorce, she struggled with commitment issues and realized that there probably is no such thing as "the one" or "the love of your life". Reality is nothing like a Disney movie or some cheesy, stupid romantic comedy. Her views on marriage have changed ever since.

Therefore, Shaun and Lea believed that cohabitation was always the better, safer route for couples to take in case things eventually didn't work out. However, after living together as a couple for almost a year now (and living together for almost three), maybe their views on marriage were slowly starting to shift because they were so in love right now and they did want to commit to each other for the rest of their lives.

Shaun wanted to commit because he loved Lea so much and he just wanted to. _But is marriage really necessary for that kind of commitment? Do I need to follow these silly social norms? Do I want to marry Lea because I want to? Or am I just telling myself I need to marry her because it's what society expects?_ He wondered. No matter how committed they could be, divorce was still possible. Nobody can predict the future.

So, he decided to ask his friends and colleagues for advice, but even that was kind of hard and since most of them didn't feel reliable. 

Dr. Melendez and Jessica were engaged once, but it was ended. Dr. Melendez was dead and Jessica hadn't been in a relationship ever since. Dr. Lim and Dr. Park were divorced and currently single. Morgan and Jordan were single and not interested in dating. Olivia, Asher, and Claire were still in the beginning stages of the relationship with their current boyfriends. Enrique was polyamorous. Claire and her new boyfriend had only been together for four months.

Overall, Carly, Dr. Glassman, Dr. Andrews, Nurse Villanueva, JL, and even Jared felt like the only reliable ones he could ask advice for given their relationship statuses. Dr. Glassman was divorced but currently married (but it was a bit too quick). Dr. Andrews had been in a relationship with the same woman for almost 30 years and was also married to her. Carly had been in a committed relationship for a year. Nurse Villanueva was engaged and so was Jared (according to his Facebook page). JL had been married for 25 years. They all told him that if he wanted to get married, then just go for it and don't think too much about what society says...and if he wanted to keep cohabitating, that was also okay.

"Just do what you want," they said.

He then decided to just go ahead and ask Lea for her hand in marriage straightforwardly and see what her opinion was. He wasn't going to follow the unnecessary traditions of buying an engagement ring (in case she would decline and would have meant he had wasted a bunch of money) and asking her parents' permission (because this wasn't the 1800s and Lea wasn't a piece of property).

Lea, on the other hand, was feeling even more serious about staying committed than ever not just because she felt devoted to Shaun, but also because they were about to experience a huge life-changing event, which she hadn't yet informed Shaun about.

As of right now, Lea and Shaun were having dinner together in their apartment. It was mostly quiet (because both Lea and Shaun actually had something they wanted to tell each other).

"Lea, I was wondering if..." Shaun hesitated to tell his girlfriend what he wanted.

"If what, Shaun?"

"If we could get married. I want to marry you," answered Shaun, smiling a little bit. "I didn't buy you an engagement ring because it would be a waste of money if you said that you didn't want to get married..."

"First of all, I think engagement rings are unnecessary. Anyway, I think I would love to get married, Shaunie," beamed Lea, looking at him a bit doubtfully. "But I want to think about it first or maybe wait a year because...there is also something I need to tell you."

"What is it that you need to tell me?" Shaun asked nervously, hoping she wasn't having to ring the cowbell.

Lea sighed before she finally spilled the beans with her breath shaking. "I'm pregnant."

Shaun was silent for a while, wondering how he should react and what he should say. Was he happy? Of course, he was happy. But this was totally unexpected.

"Did...you...take a pregnancy test and it came back positive? Did a doctor confirm it yet?" Shaun asked, spilling out a plethora of questions. "Do you know how far along you are?"

"I noticed that my period was late, so I took a pregnancy test, two pregnancy tests actually - but both of the results came back inconclusive," explained Lea. "So, I went to the clinic and asked Morgan to draw my blood. I asked her to let me take my blood sample to pathology because if I told her why then she would probably blab about it."

"Which pathologist did you send it to?" Shaun asked curiously, surprised that Morgan would actually agree to let a patient (or even the head of the IT department) carry her own blood sample down to the pathology lab. "Because Carly told me that Sydney - or Dr. Klammer - from pathology likes to gossip. And if you were afraid that Morgan would blab about it, then why did you ask her to perform a blood test on you?"

"She was the only doctor in the clinic available at the time and I didn't want Glassy to know just yet. We should tell him together. Anyway, I gave it to Carly," replied Lea. "I asked her to run a pregnancy test because she was the only one I trusted. She promised to keep it a secret between us. She sent me a text telling me, 'congrats, you're pregnant, blood doesn't lie'. And then yesterday, I went to the doctor, and she said that I'm officially five weeks pregnant. Our next appointment is in three weeks."

Lea could tell that Shaun was about to express bubbles of happiness at the bombshell she just dropped on him.

"I'm going to be a father!"

Lea nodded, glaring at him lovingly.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Shaun crushed Lea into a suffocating hug while they celebrated, happily jumping up and down.

* * *

After debating over when exactly they should tell Dr. Glassman (Shaun could not wait to tell him the exciting news), Debbie, and Lea's parents that they were pregnant, they then moved their debate over the topic of marriage.

"When would be the perfect day to get married?" Lea asked. "For one thing, I think a quick ceremony at City Hall is the best option for us. I don't think we can afford a big wedding and a baby all at once. But, I don't just want to go to City Hall in casual wear and just go 'yay, we're married'. I kind of want just one nice ceremony surrounded by immediate family. No flower girls, no ring bearer, no maid of honor, no best man, no bridesmaids and groomsmen. No bridal showers or bachelor parties or any of that expensive stuff. I think we should be using that money for the baby and other important things."

Shaun agreed with Lea on that. Even if Lea wasn't pregnant right now, he believed that a big fancy wedding was not a good idea for him not only because of the cost, but also because he knew that he would probably be a total groomzilla. "The baby is due in July. Should we get married before or after they are born?"

"Well, I do have one nice formal dress to wear to the ceremony, but I might not fit into it if we get married while still pregnant," Lea noted. "I will still have some baby weight left even when this baby turns one, so I'm not sure if I will still fit in the dress during postpartum."

"So, pros and cons," suggested Shaun. "First, getting married before the baby comes."

"Pros. My parents would get off our backs over having a baby before marriage. We'd also get the whole marriage thing over with. The quicker it gets done, the easier it will be," listed Lea.

"Cons. If we wait until you are farther along in your pregnancy, you may have limited dress options," shared Shaun bluntly. "And you might be uncomfortable, especially if you sneeze and pee your pants during the ceremony. What about after the baby is born?"

"Pros," began Lea. "Our baby could be part of the ceremony. We could hold them in our arms when we recite our vows."

"Cons. They might be very disruptive and we might be too tired. They could poop or vomit on us during the thing if one of us holds them in our arms during the ceremony."

"That is true. I think we should get the wedding over with before the baby comes," proposed Lea. "Glassy and Debbie can come as our witnesses and my parents and Donnie could be there virtually over Zoom."

"I want to have the wedding before the birth," agreed Shaun. "I think the second trimester would be the best time for it. We'll get married sometime between mid-January and April."

"So, then...it's settled. Late winter or the spring."

"Also, I want to name the baby Steven Aaron if they're a boy. Is that okay?" Shaun inquired. He had been saving that name for his hypothetical son since he thought about being a father.

"Of course we can name our future son after your brother and your mentor, Shaun," affirmed Lea, wrapping her arms around Shaun.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. Please review, and tell me what you think :)

Lea was 32 weeks pregnant, and she and Shaun still hadn't yet tied the knot as they had originally planned. However, they had almost everything ready for their journey into parenthood.

The nursery was finished, they had every baby item they needed and everything was set up, they found a doula, they found a pediatrician, the birth plan was written simply, they had looked into childcare options, the entire apartment was baby-proofed, and their finances were arranged.

In addition, Lea was also pregnant with twins.

When Dr. Garcia, their OB/GYN, told them that at their eight week ultrasound, the couple was dumbfounded.

* * *

_"And there we are," Dr. Garcia said a few minutes after she inserted the transvaginal ultrasound probe into Lea._

_Shaun and Lea both stared at the monitor. As he clutched Lea's hand, Shaun did notice something odd about the ultrasound and the fetal heartbeat. For one thing, the heartbeat sounded too fast and irregular. Secondly, he could swear that he saw..._

_"There is Baby A, and there is Baby B," demonstrated Dr. Garcia as she pointed to the two kidney beans on the screen._

_"We're having twins," Shaun guessed, knowing that it was pretty obvious since he could see two little separate beans. Also, the reason why the heartbeat sounded abnormal was that there were two simultaneous heartbeats._

_"That's right! You're having dizygotic, dichorionic, diamniotic twins!"_

_Lea looked at the doctor and Shaun with slight confusion, not sure if she understood a couple of the terminologies. "'Dizygotic' means fraternal, right? And I know 'di' means two, so I guess 'diamniotic' means they have separate amniotic sacs?"_

_"Absolutely," Dr. Garcia verified._ _"And 'dichorionic' means they have separate placentas."_

_Shaun and Lea looked at her with absolute surprise, still grasping each other's hands tightly._

_"Wait, what?" Lea was shocked, letting out a sigh, planting her palm into her face. "Oh, crap."_

_Shaun was equally shocked and freaking out a bit. There were two separate fertilized eggs with their own amniotic sacs and their own placentas._ _This was twice as many babies he and Lea were expecting._

* * *

Over and over again since he and Debbie were informed about the pregnancy and the engagement, Dr. Glassman has been reassuring the parents-to-be that everything was going to be okay. Nonetheless, the stress and anxiety over parenthood and other things kept leading to Shaun and Lea continuing to delay their wedding date over a simple ceremony.

With everything going on, their wedding was at the bottom of their list of things to worry about.

First things first, there were a couple of scares. For instance, when Lea was 18 weeks into her pregnancy, she got into a minor car accident. Although she walked out without a scratch, the striped tomato's life had ended permanently. When she was at 28 weeks, she tripped and fell forward; her belly crashing into the coffee table. That immediately sent Shaun into a panic and then he rushed her to the hospital. The babies were fine. Unfortunately for Shaun, seeing that happen triggered his horrible memories of his father throwing his rabbit against the wall and Steve falling off the train and dying.

Another setback Lea and Shaun were facing was the fact that they were both seeing a therapist for their sake and for the sake of their children. Both of them were having depression and anxiety. Dr. Lim, Dr. Andrews, Claire, and Dr. Park actually became concerned for Shaun when they noticed how his stress and anxiety was affecting his behavior at work. For instance, he actually snapped and yelled at Asher and Enrique. Lea's colleague, Diego, also noticed how extremely stressed she was.

Lea and Shaun were also too busy preparing for childbirth and parenthood.

As for Lea herself, being pregnant with twins sucked. It was double the extra weight in her midsection, double the kicks and jabs, and double the mood swings. Her morning sickness was more severe than what Lea's mother claimed how much morning sickness she had with her and her brother. In her second trimester, people were already telling her that she looked like she was about to pop. She hated waking up to have one baby using her bladder as a pillow and the other baby with their arm or foot lodged under her ribcage. Her womb had become a boxing ring.

When they told their family and colleagues they were having twins, their reactions varied. Most of them were reminding them how full their hands were going to be and even offered them help, which they greatly appreciated. However, Lea didn't quite like her father's insensitive reaction to the news, which was him pointing out to her and Shaun that it was going to be expensive and that her and Shaun were probably never going to sleep again.

_"Well, duh! You really think Shaun and I haven't already considered that?" She scoffed at him._

And speaking of Lea's parents, her family was also one of the sources of her and Shaun's current stress.

"No, Mom, I don't want you in the delivery room with me," argued Lea over the phone with her parents as she paced around the apartment. "I understand, these are your first grandbabies, but I just want it to be me and Shaun...and our doula. You, Dad, and Donnie can wait outside."

Shaun sat on the couch as he eavesdropped on the conversation, only being able to process what Lea was saying. He would usually wear headphones whenever she would have a squabble with her parents over the phone, but this was one where he felt like he had to listen because he was hoping that Lea wouldn't give in when she didn't want to. She had already given in to allowing her parents (and Donnie) to come to San Jose for the birth, and they were coming here in four weeks even though it was possible that the babies could come a bit earlier and the fact that Lea wasn't scheduled for any induction. It wasn't guaranteed that the babies would come at 36 weeks even though that was when twins were born on average.

"Dad, no. Shaun and I are not having a wedding reception. We don't need a giant cake. Even if you offer to pay for the wedding and the reception, we don't even want one. We're not going over this again," groaned Lea. "We have two babies on the way and we have been through a hard time mentally, so we have more important things to spend our money on."

Lea paused and Shaun could hear the muffled, inaudible voice of Mike talking.

"Okay, yes. Fine. You can walk me down the aisle, but that's it," Lea sighed, rubbing her forehead in frustration as she let Pam and Mike speak for awhile. "Yes, I love you, too. Bye."

After hanging up, Lea plopped herself down on the couch (with the help of Shaun) next to Shaun, sighing in exasperation as she habitually rested her hands on her protuberant belly.

"What did they argue with you about this time? They aren't the parents of these babies and it's not their wedding, so they don't get to make the choices," consoled Shaun, wrapping his arm around Lea's shoulders.

"To be fair, they weren't there for my first wedding. Travis and I eloped right after graduation. And this time, they really want to be there for my wedding, which is understandable...but, I really wish they didn't want to be super involved in everything," elucidated Lea. "But at least they accepted that we're getting married after having babies and that it won't be held in a church and that we won't have a bunch of people invited. I've heard some churches don't allow visibly pregnant brides and I'm not in the mood for searching for Catholic churches in San Jose that do."

"So, your dad is walking you down the aisle?" Shaun questioned.

"Yep, and that, I'm okay with. Are you?" Lea inquired.

"Yes. Are there any other things about our wedding that will be changed?"

"No, just that," replied Lea.

"Dr. Gromski, Claire, and I helped Olivia and Jordan deliver triplets today," shared Shaun, changing the subject.

"Hold on, you said at lunch right before you left that you had to go deliver twins," Lea said, looking confused. "You told me that your patient was having twins."

"We thought Vanessa was having twins. But it turns out that their OB didn't notice a third baby on the ultrasound," explained Shaun. "This was supposed to be her second and last child. Her obstetrician told her and her wife that it was twins. They already have a seven-year-old son."

Lea snorted. "I feel kind of bad for saying this, but I'm actually glad that's not us...having triplets or even quadruplets. Now they have four kids. And it's also hard to believe that nobody would notice a third baby on the ultrasound."

"Baby C was hiding behind Baby A and Baby B. During the c-section, Bianca, her wife, passed out in the operating room when I said that there was a third baby. I noticed a few fingers sticking out of the incision," Shaun continued the story.

"I'm surprised you didn't pass out when Dr. Garcia told us we were having twins, considering that we agreed to be one and done but instead got more than what we asked for," giggled Lea before staring down at her belly. "I'm sorry, Daddy and I love you both equally."

"Again, I already noticed it was twins before Dr. Garcia told us. I could hear two different heartbeats," mentioned Shaun before getting back to the story he was telling. "And once all three of the babies were delivered, we had five patients in the OR - Vanessa, Bianca, and their three babies."

"Oh, jeez," moaned Lea, letting out a laugh. "I hope I don't have triplets inside me."

"I don't think there is a third baby inside you," reassured Shaun, reaching out to rub Lea's belly, enjoying the feeling of the babies kicking. "I've analyzed the sonograms a lot of times, and there are only two. And the likelihood of another multiple, such as a twin or a triplet, being missed on an ultrasound is very low."

"Good, I don't think I can handle three babies at once. It's already even more challenging that we have two instead of one. Also, please don't tell me the babies' sexes if you know them. Even if you already know and even if my family wants to know, I still want to be surprised," giggled Lea, gently caressing Shaun's arm.

"I don't know the sexes. In the sonogram copies we have, they're both in tricky positions to determine their sexes," Shaun put forth candidly. Every ultrasound, he would look away from the screen every time one of the babies' crotches would almost become visible. He hated surprises, but this was an exception where being surprised was actually what he preferred. If at least one of the twins was female, he and Lea would probably get bombarded with a bunch of awful, unnecessarily giant baby bows and a bunch of pink crap; same thing if at least one of them was male except it would be a bunch of different overly gendered crap.

Shaun and Lea weren't going to raise their babies with ridiculous gender stereotypes. There was no way of knowing what their children would like, their sexualities, or their gender identities since they were the sizes of jicamas right now.

"Anyway, are the names we picked out still settled?" Lea queried. Since they were having fraternal twins, there was both the likelihood of their twins being the same sex and the likelihood of them being the opposite sex. Therefore, they had to come up with four and a half different baby names.

If they were both males, their names were going to be Linus Steven and Silas Aaron. If they were both females, their names were going to be Eleanor Faye and Violet June. If one was male and the other was female, their names were going to be Steven Aaron and Eleanor Violet.

"Yes," confirmed Shaun. "I still think Fox is a terrible baby name, though."

"Oh, come on! That's the first name of Agent Mulder from _The X-Files_ ," defended Lea. "I still think it's cool! Also, Nimue, as in The Lady of the Lake? I still don't like that suggestion."

"Fair enough. We are still entitled to our opinions, and we should both be grateful that we already agreed on the names permanently," Shaun pointed out.

"That's true. Also, we totally failed to reach our goal of getting married in the second trimester," lamented Lea, scooching closer towards Shaun and getting back on the topic of marriage. "Now, here we are. Eight weeks away from my due date and not married. We barely have any wedding plans and no written vows. My parents won't stop bugging me about it."

"The babies might come early because multiples are usually born before their due date," reminded Shaun. "It's why I had us packing for the hospital at 26 weeks."

"I guess that's one advantage of having twins," joked Lea with sarcasm before getting back to the topic of marriage. "Anyway, should we invite other people to the wedding or should it still just be Glassman, Debbie, my parents, Donnie, our children, and us?"

"I think we should stick to our original plan of those few people," indicated Shaun. He wouldn't mind if Claire, Carly, Park, Morgan, Andrews, Lim, Olivia, Jordan, Enrique, Asher, and a few nurses came to the wedding, but would he also have to invite their significant others and their families? Also, if they came to the wedding, then a bunch of Lea's relatives would have to be invited, too. And to be honest, only immediate family sounded better because they didn't want to deal with hurt feelings. "What was your dream wedding?" He asked his fiancée out of curiosity.

"You know, the usual white dress with a veil and a flower crown. I'd get married in an outdoor garden in the spring or the summer. My bouquet of flowers would contain violets and other purple flowers. I always pictured my maid of honor being Brittany, my best friend from high school. But we grew apart and now we're just friends on Facebook. All of my bridesmaids would be wearing purple dresses. My dad would walk me down the aisle. The cake at the reception would be lemon-flavored. I'd have the guests throw bird seeds at us because I feel like it would make up for all the rice that they have choked on in the past. I actually have a whole wedding Pinterest page I made six years ago," described Lea. "But right now, I can see plenty of problems with an outdoor wedding in the summer or spring because of the flowers attracting bees. Anyway, if we did have a traditional wedding, who would be your best man and your groomsmen?"

"I'm not sure about best man because I know I would want it to be Steve if he was still alive...maybe Dr. Glassman," answered Shaun. "If I was in charge of everything, I don't think I would have a best man and a maid of honor. For the groomsmen, definitely Jared, Donnie, Asher, Enrique, and Park. If I was in charge of the bridesmaids, I would pick Claire, Morgan, Olivia, Jordan, and maybe Carly. That would even out the wedding party. Who would you want as the bridesmaids?"

"Probably Holly and Steph from work and three of my cousins, although I do kind of like your suggestions," replied Lea. "However, absolutely no flower girl or ring bearer because I don't trust children with small rings or to follow all of the directions they are given."

"Also, do you know where the tradition of saving the top of a wedding cake to eat one year later comes from?" Shaun asked, eager to share some fun trivia over silly wedding traditions with Lea.

"No, please tell me," chirped Lea.

"It was expected that the couple's first child would be born within a year after the wedding, so the couple saved the top level and served it at their first child's christening," clarified Shaun.

"Interesting. Did you also know that engagement rings are the product of corporate greed and only started in the 1930s?"

"Yes."

"I'm pretty sure a lot of wedding traditions have messed up origins," Lea guessed. "I mean, most brides these days are obviously not virgins, yet they still wear veils that were meant to symbolize their purity. And I'm not wearing a veil or anything on my head either. Maybe we should have eloped? Because my mom said that Aunt Denise is horribly offended that she wasn't invited and that she won't get to serve my grandmother's famous minestrone at the reception."

"No, your parents have supported most of our wishes by now and your Aunt Denise is going to have to deal with it," stated Shaun with frankness. "I think we'll be fine. When talking about the date, maybe we can get married when the twins are around eight months or older?"

"I think that would be a great idea," agreed Lea. "After we say our vows and the officiator pronounces us as husband and wife, we can have a photo taken of the four of us. It would be our family photo and we'd have two birds killed with one stone; the two birds being our family photo and our wedding photo."

"I like that idea very much," Shaun chortled softly with excitement.

After watching a movie together, the engaged couple decided that it was time to hit the sack.

Once they were settled in bed, Shaun and Lea kissed each other and bid goodnight to each other. Then, Shaun leaned over to kiss Lea's belly.

"And goodnight to you two, Daddy loves both of you," he whispered to his unborn children.

"And Mommy loves you, too," added Lea, softly rubbing her very pregnant belly.

They then settled down into deep slumbers for the night. Well, for Lea, it was barely even a deep slumber with all of the aches and pains, feeling the need to pee every five minutes, and the babies constantly moving around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Shaun and Lea are having twins!


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took longer to update than you expected. I was meant to write and post this on February 15, but then all hell broke loose in Texas, where I live. In case you haven't heard, almost the entire state of Texas had a huge hell of a nightmare snowstorm so I didn't have power and I barely had wi-fi. It's not over yet, though, and we're still getting rolling blackouts, so I'm using the notes app on my phone to write and then paste it all onto here so a power outage and wifi disconnect doesn't erase everything I've been working on. Anyway, here is the third chapter. I hope you all enjoy it and please review it. I appreciate constructive criticism :)

The labor and delivery of Shaun and Lea's twins went from smooth to chaotic. Just as expected and like many twin births on average, she went into labor at 36 weeks. For 34 painful hours, Lea progressed and dilated without any concerning, life-threatening complications (except for maybe the concern of high blood pressure) while Shaun and the doula supported her. Then, Steven Aaron Murphy was born all pink and perfect. However, when the time came for the second baby to be born, there was an umbilical prolapse that lead to Lea needing an emergency c-section. Eleanor Violet Murphy was born blue with the cord around her neck, but she was okay eventually. Before Dr. Garcia made the cesarean incision, Lea asked her to go ahead and perform a tubal ligation on her (Shaun originally planned to get a vasectomy after this), and she agreed to the procedure.

Unfortunately, the blissful moment of holding both their twins in the hospital bed couldn't be enjoyed peacefully due to Lea's parents dying to meet their grandchildren and not giving the new parents some time to get a bit of rest and bond with their children after Lea had just pushed a human being out of her body while also having a c-section. On the other hand, Dr. Glassman, Debbie, and Donnie were more respectful with giving Shaun and Lea some space, though.

Now, it's been two weeks since the twins came into the world and Shaun and Lea were living in Hell right now. With two newborns in the apartment, it was twice as many feedings and diaper changes and much more screaming and crying. Even when both Steven and Eleanor would be sleeping, they had to do other tasks such as preparing bottles, pumping breast milk (on Lea's part), washing the cloth diapers, and making sure Albert and Poppy were fed so they hardly got any sleep. In addition, poor Lea was still physically recovering from childbirth.

Even while on family leave, they were totally overwhelmed.

They did, however, appreciate the help from a few of Shaun's colleagues. So far, Claire, Dr. Park, and Dr. Lim have cooked meals for them and brought it to their door, but that was pretty much it. During the first week they were home with the babies, when Dr. Lim came over to deliver a meal for them, Lea answered the door with breast milk lactation stains on the mammary regions of her tank top, giving absolutely zero fucks about it.

As of right now at 3:00 in the afternoon while the extremely sleep and shower-deprived Shaun and Lea were feeding their babies (Shaun feeding Eleanor and Lea feeding Steven) eating crackers and lentil soup that Claire had made and delivered to them. Only being parents for two weeks, the couple had already mastered doing one thing and feeding one of their babies at the same time.

The feeding routine was usually this: Lea would breastfeed one while Shaun would bottle-feed the other. Then, Lea would pump when she needed to. She did attempt to breastfeed both babies at the same time, but that felt too difficult for her.

Once Shaun and Lea were done feeding the babies, they begun the process of burping them.

Suddenly, they heard someone knock loudly on their door. Then, the colicky babies started bawling at the tops of their lungs.

Shaun roughly ruffled his hair in frustration while Lea groaned in annoyance.

 _Maybe we should hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign outside our door_ , Lea thought as Shaun went to go answer the door.

* * *

Dr. Glassman stood outside the door to Shaun and Lea's apartment. He hasn't seen them and his surrogate grandchildren in almost two weeks since he saw them at the hospital, and he wanted to stop by and see how they were doing (with twins, Shaun and Lea were obviously going to need a lot of help). So far, Dr. Park, Dr. Lim, and Claire have brought them dishes since the couple was too exhausted to cook. He expected to hear the sounds of crying babies behind the door when he walked closer towards their apartment door, but right now, it was dead silent and too quiet...until he knocked.

"Oops," he muttered under his breath once he heard the infants wailing simultaneously.

After a few minutes, the door slowly creaked open to reveal Shaun in an appearance that Dr. Glassman had never seen him in before.

To put it bluntly, he looked like shit and he smelled. His hair was obviously greasy and a total rat's nest, and his face was developing stubbles of facial hair. He had bags under his beet-red bloodshot eyes. His clothes were stained with sweat, spit-up, and possibly excrement. Draped over his shoulder was a burp cloth and in his arms was a baby being held in the shoulder hold position.

"Damn it! Satan just spat up right down the back of my shirt! I forgot to use a burp cloth!" Dr. Glassman heard Lea yell from a short distance. "Oh, god...Steven! Sorry, Stevie."

Shaun and Dr. Glassman looked at each other awkwardly without saying any words until Shaun broke the silence and grunted in annoyance as he continued rocking Eleanor, trying to calm her down while also gently patting her back to try and burp her. "What are you doing here? I'm in the middle of burping a baby. I told you about our no visitor's policy unless you're giving us food. Claire just brought us food yesterday. Shh, calm down, it's okay, Nell."

"I know, I'm sorry. Um, can I come in?" Dr. Glassman requested nervously as Eleanor slowly quieted down from her father soothing her (eventually burping her successfully), and well aware of Shaun and Lea's current no-visitors policy, yet he still had a desire to help the new rookie parents. "To help a bit and give you both a hand, not to just visit and play with the babies."

"Okay," Shaun muttered under his breath as he let Dr. Glassman in. "But please make sure your phone is on vibrate or on silent."

When Dr. Glassman walked into Shaun and Lea's apartment, he also saw Lea in an equally awful appearance with a crying baby in her arms, trying to calm him down. She also smelled like she hadn't showered in days.

"Hi," he greeted his employee ineptly as she succeeded in calming her son down. She glared back at him, looking a bit annoyed that he was here.

"Hi, Glassy," Lea greeted back as she ran her hand over Steven's back.

"Um…why don't you two go take a shower. I can look after Steven and Eleanor," Dr. Glassman suggested, thinking of ways he could help out. "Go take a break for a while."

"Thank you," Shaun and Lea expressed their gratitude in unison, carefully setting their children down in their bassinets before walking over towards to hug him.

"You're welcome, but...hug me after you shower, please," the old man chuckled, backing away from the two of them, feeling a bit repulsed at the mixed smell of B.O. and infant spit-up. "Because honestly, you both stink."

* * *

Dr. Glassman monitored Eleanor and Steven, cooing at them and letting them grab his fingers with their tiny fists, while Shaun and Lea showered. Once they were both done, they put on fresh clean clothes and then sat down in their living room with Dr. Glassman.

"So, how has the experience of parenthood been going for the two of you?" He asked the couple, aware that he was probably asking a stupid question. Since he was a father before, he knew what it was like to be at home with a newborn, but since he was only the father of a singleton, he could not imagine what it was like to take care of two needy newborns.

"We're so overwhelmed and I'm not enjoying this!" Shaun answered candidly. "They both have colic. When Steven is sleeping, Eleanor is crying. But when Eleanor is sleeping, Steven starts crying."

"They are barely ever asleep at the same time," added Lea, rubbing her exhausted eyes. "And to be blunt, I'm not okay! I'm trying to do everything right as a parent, but I still feel like a terrible mother! Sometimes, I feel like Shaun and I have made a mistake."

"I keep worrying about whether sleep training is bad or good. My heart says that I shouldn't sleep train, but my brain says that I should. It feels too cruel in my opinion and Dr. Park said that he tried to sleep train Kellan, then failed, but Kellan turned out fine anyway, and he says that it's not necessary...but I feel like I have to because that's what some people have told me." Shaun whinged, looking like he was probably about to start hitting himself. "We're terrible parents! I'm a terrible father!"

"Okay, first of all, speaking from my own experience of trying to sleep train Maddie, I actually agree with Dr. Park. I'm going to call bullshit on sleep-training, especially during this early stage of development at two weeks. Sleep training is too much torture and it has no scientific basis. Newborns cry because they need to be fed or changed or something. They're communicating to you that they need you to do something for them because they can't lift their heads, walk, or do much, so they are asking you to meet their needs," Dr. Glassman reassured, remembering how Shaun would read advice on every part of parenting, desperate to do everything right, yet Aaron had told him that there was no right way to have a baby and that he should do whatever works for him and Lea. "Anyway, what makes you think that you're a terrible father? I think you're doing great!"

"I hate the newborn stage. I love my babies, but they're so damn exhausting and frustrating. Maybe because of my autism, I'm not cut out to be a dad," shared Shaun, tears collecting in his jaded eyes. Since the day he learned that he was going to be a father (and even before that), he wondered how being autistic as well as a survivor of child abuse would impact him as a parent. No matter how much reassurance he received, especially from experienced veteran fathers like Dr. Glassman and Dr. Park, he was still anxious.

"Guys, one tiny mistake isn't going to ruin your child's life. You will make mistakes and there is no such thing as a perfect parent," Dr. Glassman sighed. "And Shaun, your disability doesn't exempt you from being a good father."

"There are not enough resources for parents on the spectrum. I did find a few helpful articles or blogs from autistic parents, but I cannot get what I read from _Heartless Aspergers_ out of my head," rambled Shaun, stimming with his hands and shuddering at the horrible content from that hostile website.

"Shaunie, don't listen to those websites," Lea cut in, aware how true it was about the lack of resources for parents on the spectrum like Shaun. Connecting with other parents was going to be very frustrating for him. "Those are hate sites and they're biased and toxic. For most of them, I'm pretty sure their husbands and boyfriends are just assholes, autism or not."

"I know," affirmed Shaun, hopefully not on the verge of a meltdown. "But it doesn't stop me from worrying about how my autism will impact our children."

"Shaun, bad parents come in all shapes and sizes. As do good parents. Being neurotypical doesn't exempt someone from being a bad parent, and being autistic doesn't exempt you from being a good parent. You've succeeded at being a good person and a good doctor..." Dr. Glassman began.

"And a good fiancé," added Lea.

"And if you can succeed at those things, I think you can succeed at being a good dad," finished Dr. Glassman before he turned his attention to Lea. "Also, I think both of you need to hear what I'm about to say to you because not enough people say this to new parents."

"Okay," Lea was all ears, and so was Shaun.

"It's completely okay to not be fans of the newborn stage. It doesn't make you a bad parent or love your children any less. It's totally normal to feel that way. I felt that way, too. Nobody ever talks about it, but many new parents have these thoughts. It will get easier over time," heartened Dr. Glassman. "Anyway, since the car accident and also the incident where Lea's belly hit the coffee table, you both had feelings of depression and anxiety. Are you two still talking to your therapist? Because if any of you are having symptoms of postpartum depression, anxiety, or PTSD, you should tell her about it or find a support group. Claire and Dr. Lim even told me that they both attend a mental health support group, and they think it would be good for you two to join them. They said 'no pressure' though."

"Yes," replied Shaun, aware that even though he didn't go through pregnancy and childbirth, he wasn't safe from postpartum mental illness. Depression and anxiety hit them both hard during Lea's pregnancy. "We are. Therapy has been a bit helpful."

"Good," acknowledged Dr. Glassman. "I'm glad to hear that."

"And thank you for the advice," said Lea.

"I'm not looking forward to potty-training them, though," Shaun uttered randomly, managing to get some soft laughs out of Lea and Dr. Glassman.

"Oh, jeez," cringed Lea. "Neither am I."

"Anyway, sorry to bother you about this question, but have you set a date for your wedding yet?" Dr. Glassman asked, changing the subject from parenthood to marriage.

"No, we have not," replied Lea with a sigh, getting a glance at the sleeping babies. "We've been so busy with the babies that we haven't really thought about it too much. And to be honest, we're kind of wishing we just eloped instead."

"It would have been so much easier," agreed Shaun.

"I know," grumbled Lea. "But, I didn't have a ceremony at all when I got married the first time, and my dad said he really wished that he was able to walk me down the aisle. And he is going to be able to do that and be there for my second marriage, which he is happy to be doing. I also wanted a good ceremony, just a simple one."

"Just so you know, I think it's a smart idea that you both decided to have a ceremony at City Hall instead of a big huge fancy wedding with cake and centerpieces," Dr. Glassman addressed, a bit saddened at the fact that there would never be a day when Maddie got to reach the milestone of being walked down the aisle by him. "Because until I got married for the very first time in the 80s, I was not aware of the wedding tax."

"What is the wedding tax?" Shaun queried curiously.

"You know when you're doing all the things like shopping for the cake or other errands to get a wedding arranged or even finding a venue, if you tell the people at the store that it is for a wedding, they charge you more," Dr. Glassman spelled out. "They charge more for weddings than for birthday parties. It's why you should never tell them that the stuff you're getting is for a wedding."

"What? That is just ridiculous!" Lea gasped, shocked that people would even do that.

"It really is," concurred Shaun. "Also, sometimes, I wonder if Lea and I should just keep cohabitating for the rest of our lives. I've been thinking about it, and marriage is just a piece of paper."

"Actually, it's more than a piece of paper, Shaun," reminded Dr. Glassman. "There are actually a lot of legal benefits you'll receive if you and Lea get married?"

"Like what?" Lea asked curiously. "Besides being each other's next of kin if one of us was in a coma."

"Well, for one thing, you get an unlimited marital tax deduction. You could also file your taxes jointly instead of separately. You can also receive each other's social security benefits. There are also prenuptial agreement benefits, IRA benefits, and inheritance benefits," Dr. Glassman listed. "But it is really up to you. And if you want to postpone your wedding a year or two, that's okay. You don't have to set a date or anything. Just...get married _if_ you want to, _when_ you feel ready."

"Okay, I know that I still definitely want to get married, Lea," decided Shaun.

"Me, too, Shaun."

The conversation was interrupted by Steven crying, which then lead to a chain reaction of Eleanor crying.

Shaun and Lea groaned in unison, getting up to tend to the babies.

"Oh, my god! Are these two psychic?" She whimpered, picking up Eleanor while Shaun picked up Steven. "One of them cries, then the other one cries, too."

"At least I don't have to stress about scheduling that vasectomy anymore since you already had your tubes tied during the c-section," acknowledged Shaun as he and Lea picked up their babies and bopped them in their arms. "Also, I think Steven needs to be changed."

"You know what, why don't you two let me and Debbie look after these two while you both stay here and get some alone time and maybe some sleep, because although you don't stink anymore now that you both have showered, you both look like crap. So, get some sleep and take care of yourselves. I can tell how sleep-deprived the two of you are, especially since I heard Lea call Steven 'Satan'," Dr. Glassman offered as he watched Shaun and Lea take care of their son and daughter.

"We would both like that very much, Glassy," thanked Shaun, Lea smiling along with him. Once Steven was changed, Dr. Glassman helped Shaun and Lea pack the diaper bag and put the babies in their car seats, ready to spend the day with Glassy and Debbie.

"So far, you and also Shaun's boss and colleagues have been a much better help than my own parents were," Lea sighed with exasperation. As much as she appreciated her parents when they were around to come "help" when the babies were born, they treated it more like a visit more than actually helping them around the apartment. They were too interested in their grandbabies. But, at least they didn't just drop in unannounced.

"It's really no problem," Dr. Glassman smiled. "You both helped me when I had cancer, and now it makes sense for me to help you two after you have a baby...or babies. I owe it to both of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this. For some information, Shaun and Lea have a second fish named Poppy. Also, the next chapter will be Shaun and Lea's wedding. Again, please review.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the fourth chapter. The fourth chapter was going to be the whole wedding and honeymoon (and this was also going to be the last chapter), but then I decided to split it into three chapters, so I added two more chapters to this story, so the actual wedding ceremony won't be until the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and please review :)

"So Shaun, you're getting married tomorrow," Claire emphasized amusedly while she, Shaun, Dr. Lim, Asher, Enrique, Nurse Villanueva, and JL were circled around the operating table as they performed a coronary artery bypass. "How do you feel about that?"

Tomorrow, Shaun and Lea were scheduled to be married at City Hall surrounded by their family. Lea's parents and her brother had arrived in San Jose the night before. Tomorrow was also going to be the start of a three-day vacation for the couple. For Shaun, it was hard to believe that he was actually going to become Lea's husband, and Lea was going to become his wife...and they were already parents to eight-month-old twins. Honestly, he couldn't even describe how he felt about that, about everything.

"I...don't know," Shaun replied nervously as he held the clamps in place. "I never thought I'd get married, or even have children."

"Honestly, I still find it odd that you are about to be married with children," Dr. Lim chimed in.

"Why is that?" Enrique asked, raising his eyebrow at Dr. Lim. "You think autistic people can't fall in love or have families? That's ableist."

"No, it's because when Dr. Murphy started his residency here in 2017, he was all 'I hate fathers' and 'I don't want love'," defended Dr. Lim before turning her attention to JL. "How are the patient's vitals?"

"Stable," JL answered.

"And now, he's a father of two about to marry the woman he loves," Asher added, returning to the topic of marriage.

"So, are you and Lea doing anything special after the wedding, you know, like going on a honeymoon?" JL asked curiously. "Mark and I went to the Grand Canyon for ours. I mean, you and Lea are taking a three-day vacation, so you probably have big plans."

"Yes," replied Shaun.

"Really? Where?" Nurse Villanueva probed. "Are you taking Eleanor and Steven with you or will they be getting a babysitter?"

"They're not coming with us," answered Shaun. "They will be staying with Lea's parents at their hotel while Lea and I just stay home and have..."

"Sex. I think we already got that part," Dr. Lim cut Shaun off as she and the rest of the team continued the procedure.

"I was going to say 'tequila stat'," corrected Shaun, although it was obviously true that he and Lea were definitely going to be having a lot of sex during their at-home honeymoon, which was basically just a break from their children.

As much as Shaun and Lea loved Eleanor and Steven, they were such a handful. Steven mostly looked like Shaun (except he had Lea's hazel eyes) while Eleanor mostly looked like Lea (except she had Shaun's blue eyes). Steven had started babbling while Eleanor hasn't quite yet started. Neither of them were walking yet either, but they were teething. There were times when they would be crawling in different directions. But at other times, there would be sweet, heartwarming moments between the two of them where they would hold hands or reach out for each other or climb on each other.

And sometimes, Steven was kind of a straight-up savage baby. He was usually the twin who would start the innocent "fights", such as snatching a toy away from Eleanor, softly punching her in the face, or gently knock her down when she was sitting up. Because of that, Morgan actually nicknamed him "Savage Stevie".

* * *

The day of Shaun and Lea's wedding had finally arrived, yet as of right now, they were still not here at San Jose City Hall like they were supposed to be. On the other hand, Dr. Glassman, Debbie, Pam, Mike, and Donnie were already there, sitting impatiently in the building's entrance area as they waited for the soon-to-be-wed couple to arrive.

"Are they even close right now?" Donnie whined as he laid back in the chair and peeked at his watch. "They're going to miss their slot if they're late...which is in 25 minutes. I can't believe they missed the bus."

"Well, they had to run back and grab the diaper bag, but the bus had already left them behind. So, they're taking a Lyft," Dr. Glassman justified, remembering the earlier text Shaun and Lea had sent him and everyone else.

**SHAUN, LEA: We got to the bus stop, realized we forgot the diaper bag, ran back to get it, then the bus was gone. We're taking a Lyft instead. We might arrive later than expected. But we're on our way.**

"Let's hope the wedding doesn't get delayed...again," Mike huffed, his hands planted in his pockets. "And let's hope they didn't also forget something else."

"God, we know how forgetful Lea can be sometimes," Pam chimed in, rolling her eyes. "Aaron, you don't know how many times I had to nag her to get her butt out of bed every morning when she was a teenager. She was always sleeping through her alarm."

"Lea says Shaun has helped her find strategies to be less forgetful about some things and be more organized," shared Dr. Glassman. "And Shaun tells me Lea has helped him be a bit more open to new things. These two basically complement each other."

"Yeah. It turns out Lea finally found a man I actually like. You won't believe some of the guys she has dated since she and Travis got divorced. She actually dated one of her college professors once. He was more than twice her age and it was disgusting," cringed Donnie.

"Damn it, Donnie!" Mike groused. "Did you really have to remind us of that again?"

"Relax, we still have 25 minutes until their slot," reassured Debbie. "We've only been here for 15 minutes. It's only 11:00 am and it isn't peak traffic hour, so they hopefully are not stuck in traffic."

All of a sudden, everyone's phones chimed and they all checked, assuming the text was from Shaun and Lea.

**SHAUN, LEA: We just arrived.**

"Oh, thank god!" Donnie sighed loudly. "Finally, they're here!"

In less than eight minutes, Lea and Shaun walked into the building (their twins riding in the double travel system), walking over to the front desk to sign in. In the travel system's basket were two car seat bases, Lea's purse, and a few baby toys while Shaun had the diaper bag slung over his shoulder. Thankfully, they were both already dressed and ready for the big event.

"Where have you two been?" Pam went over to hug her daughter and then lean closer towards the travel system to greet her grandchildren (who had fallen asleep); her husband doing the same thing.

"Please don't wake them up," begged Shaun. "Their nap time is very important and if they don't have their naps, they'll get cranky."

Pam and Mike then distanced away from the car seats a little bit and gave the babies some space.

"You were almost late for your own wedding!" Mike commented.

"No, we're on time," defended Shaun.

"Sorry," sighed Lea before she started to explain why they arrived late. "Before we left for the bus, both the twins needed their diapers changed. I was the one who changed Steven's diaper, and then he peed in my face. So I needed to take another shower so I wouldn't smell like pee."

"Then we realized we forgot the diaper bag, so we ran back to get it...but then we missed the bus," explained Shaun. "Then, we had to go back to the apartment for the car seat bases since we were going to call a Lyft instead."

"And it's a hassle to install two car seats," continued Lea. "Also, they both got carsick on the way over here."

"So, we had to change them into new clothes," added Shaun.

"That's okay," Dr. Glassman hearted, patting both Shaun and Lea on their shoulders. "You're finally here and that's all that matters."

"Now, let's all get ready," Debbie declared excitedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, this chapter was short. Again, let me know what you think. The next chapter will be the entire wedding ceremony.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is the fifth chapter of the story. Here is Shaun and Lea's actual wedding. I hope you all enjoy, and please review :)

Lea glanced at herself in the mirror, observing herself.

Instead of the typical white dress that the majority of brides wore on their wedding day, she was wearing the exact same navy floral print dress (sans the jacket she wore over) she wore to that cancer charity event at the brewery on the day of the earthquake...the moment that began her and Shaun's romantic relationship. She still had some extra weight left from her pregnancy, so the dress had been tailored and extended to fit her post-babies body. Her mother did offer Lea her own wedding dress, but even that probably wouldn't fit her and Lea thought that the outfit looked hideous (just like most wedding dresses from the 80s).

Around her neck was a bronze rosary necklace that belonged to her Grandma Eleanor (whom Lea had named her daughter after), who had passed it on to Pam when she married Mike, and now Pam was passing it down to Lea. Although she and Shaun weren't religious, Lea still wanted to wear it anyway. It was a family heirloom after all.

Her hair didn't have a veil or any other kinds of accessories; it was just put up in an elegant bun. Instead of the uncomfortable luxury white heels that would hurt her feet, she was wearing her flat black combat boots. She wasn't carrying a bouquet of flowers either, not even a bouquet of violets, her favorite flower (and also what inspired Eleanor's middle name).

This was it; this was the moment she would get married...again.

Except this time, there was a much higher chance that it would actually last until death do them part since she wasn't 18-years-old and fresh out of high school. When she and Travis got divorced, she never saw herself getting married ever again. After her failed first marriage, she slept around and had one-night stands and had flings, saying "no" to any kind of commitment.

And then, she met Shaun, but even at that point, she still never saw herself getting married and only wanted to remain friends with him. Now, here she was, about to become Mrs. Lea Murphy (well, actually, she was keeping her last name this time, so she was always going to be Ms. Lea Dilallo).

This time around, she was ready and committed. Sure, it still wasn't the ideal wedding she always dreamed of having when she was a child, but it was still awesome since she was surrounded by her family.

She then turned around to go take a peek through the closed doors for a view of her children, who were sitting on a bench while they were being kept occupied and entertained by her brother. Those two could easily be told apart instantly without looking at their different eye colors. Eleanor had curly hair, which was exactly what Lea had as a baby and a toddler. Steven's hair wasn't curly at all and he had a bit less hair than his sister. Sometimes, Lea wondered what Shaun looked like as a baby (she had never seen any baby pictures of him). Her best guess was probably a lot like his son.

Lea also smiled at the sight of her older brother being the best uncle to his niece and nephew, waving their security blankets in front of them and quietly playing peek-a-boo. They never made amends over what happened in Hershey until Lea got pregnant. Once she told her parents that she was pregnant and that she and Shaun were engaged, they told Donnie about it. And then he called her, telling her he was coming to San Jose.

* * *

_Lea had been back and forth about inviting Donnie to her wedding or even telling him about her engagement and her pregnancy. The siblings haven't spoken to each other in years since that ugly, devastating fiasco that happened in Hershey back in 2018. Although they still had each other's phone numbers, they unfollowed each other on Facebook and Instagram since that incident; almost ghosting each other._

_Just last week, she and Shaun announced the engagement and the pregnancy to Dr. Glassman, Debbie, and her parents._

_Her parents told her that it really hurt them to know that their children weren't speaking to each other. As an expectant mother of twins, Lea thought she would probably be extremely upset if her kids had a terrible relationship; although she knew that there was no guarantee that they were going to get along. There were definitely going to be a lot of sibling fights for her and Shaun to break up in the future. Shaun and Steve had a great brotherly relationship and bond, but Shaun and Lea believed that part of it had to do with the brothers being forced to have each other's backs given the kind of parents they had._

_Since she was about to be a mother in 30 weeks, she thought maybe now was probably a good time to make amends with her brother. She thought about it as she sat at her desk and computer in her office, performing her daily duties of keeping a billion bots and hackers out of St. Bonaventure's network...and trying to get rid of the horrible, yet probably irrational, thought of a cyberattack happening while she was in labor._

_"Sweeties, what do you think?" She gently ran her hands over her bloating belly, sparking a tremendously long one-sided conversation with her unborn babies. At only ten weeks, she wasn't looking pregnant just yet, although she was going to be showing sooner than people who were pregnant with singletons usually did. "Glassy knows, Debbie knows, my parents know, do you think my brother deserves to know, too? He is your uncle after all. But, just because two people are related by blood doesn't mean that they're entitled to each other. For instance, your daddy and I are family to you because we love you and will always be there for you; not because you're made of your daddy's sperm and my eggs. Too many people misuse the phrase 'blood is thicker than water', because the full quote is actually talking about the blood of the covenant and the water of the womb. That's what your daddy told me and that's also what the internet says. I mean, your dad's relationship with his mother is estranged. He's actually had an estranged relationship with them since he was 14. They did see each other again when your paternal grandfather was dying, but they're still never talking to each other again after that. It's your daddy's final decision and he's entitled to it. You don't want to know the horrible things your paternal grandfather did to your dad and his brother. However, the choice to reconnect with your Uncle Donnie, that's up to me, and I don't know what I should do."_

_Suddenly, as if it was right on cue, her phone started ringing. She looked at it and when she checked the caller-ID, she saw that it was Donnie. Hesitantly, she picked it up and then answered the call, putting the phone against her ear._

_"Hello?" She answered nervously, hoping he wouldn't yell at her and berate her. He knew that she had been in a serious relationship (her parents told him), but she knew that he was still mad at her about Hershey._

_"Hey, Lea...um," he faltered apprehensively over the other end. "Mom and Dad called me last week. They said that you were engaged and that you were pregnant with twins."_

_"Yes, I am."_

_"How far along are you?" Donnie asked, sounding curious. "You're not about to pop are you?"_

_"Ten weeks, and the morning sickness sucks. The smell of coffee makes me nauseous," Lea replied. "And please never say something like that to me again because I already feel kind of bad for just wishing I could barf on my fiancé for not having to go through this. Two days ago, I was really mean to him when I cried and blew up at him for eating the last of the pancakes. Stupid hormones."_

_"Congratulations," bubbled Donnie, sounding like he was going to burst into tears over the fact that he was going to become an uncle, while also laughing at the image of his sister under the influence of pregnancy. "So, when's the big day? I'm talking about the wedding. Let's hope it lasts this time."_

_"Shaun and I are thinking about getting married in the second trimester, but we'll come up with a date later," she responded to her brother's teasing. "Anyway, why are you calling me? Are you still mad at me?"_

_"Actually, I don't want to be mad at you anymore," he sighed. "I think it's time we forgive each other over what happened in Hershey because I really want to be a part of my nieces' or nephews' life...or niece and nephew...damn, with twins there are so many possibilities. It's kind of hard to believe that my little sister is pregnant."_

_Lea managed to let out a light chuckle. "Yep, it's fraternal twins, so there is both the probability of them being the same sex and the opposite sex. Shaun and I are actually grateful that we're not having identical twins."_

_"Anyway, I'm sorry that I'm dropping in unannounced, but it's pretty much what the Dilallos do. I'm coming to San Jose next week to see you and your fiancé," announced Donnie. "I want to meet the lucky guy. Dad says that he likes the guy."_

_"That's fine. I will have to notify Shaun, though. And don't worry, he's not one of my decades-older college professors, a drummer, a meth head, or a straight-up dick like that Kevin guy. He is brutally honest, though. And, he's a surgeon," described Lea._

_"For the record, I don't have a problem with you dating a drummer as long as he's a nice guy," said Donnie. "Anyway, I'll see you next week. I am looking forward to meeting Shaun."_

* * *

"Always wearing boots instead of dress shoes to formal events," her father teased her (wiping a tear from his eye) as they were getting ready to walk down the aisle. "Your Aunt Denise's wedding, birthday parties, Sadie Hawkins dance, homecoming, prom, graduation, and your wedding, too."

"Sorry, but you and Mom need to know that I will never wear dress shoes. I like my combat boots. Also, I hear that plenty of brides in Texas wear cowgirl boots to their weddings," defended Lea. She was never a girly girl and she usually hated dresses and skirts, and the only times she would ever wear a dress or a skirt were for special occasions or any event where it was required, yet every special occasion she would always wear boots with her dresses instead of heels or Mary Janes.

"I'm not criticizing you," Mike chortled. "And I think you look beautiful."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Are you ready?" He held out his arm, signaling for her to loop her arm around his.

"I think I am," she replied, smiling at her dad and locking her arm and elbow with her father's, ready to walk down the aisle.

The doors swung open, and then Lea and Mike were on their way down the aisle. "Here Comes the Bride" or any other classical wedding tune or even music of any kind was not playing as they strode down the aisle, but that was okay.

On her way down the aisle, Lea glared in different directions - towards Shaun and the officiator at the altar, to Debbie and Glassy standing at the right side of the aisle, and to her mother, brother, and children at the left side of the aisle.

Eleanor and Steven were the only wedding guests who weren't wearing formal clothes. They were wearing coordinating Burt's Bees honeydew-colored short-sleeved rompers and Hudson Baby booties. Eleanor was wearing a sloth print romper and yellow duck booties while Steven was wearing a romper with green and yellow stripes and orange fox booties. They were originally wearing onesies that perfectly matched their booties (Eleanor wearing a onesie with ducks printed and Steven wearing a onesie with foxes printed) when they left the apartment, but then they got carsick all over their onesies and then had to be changed into the coordinating spare clothes in the diaper bag.

Shaun was standing at the altar in front of the officiator, smiling at Lea nervously while looking over to the side every few seconds; his hands tightly clasped together and rocking back and forth on his heels. He wasn't wearing the fancy black tuxedo that he wore to the annual hospital gala. Instead, he was wearing his blue (slightly more casual) suit with a necktie and the written vows as well as Steve's old scalpel saved in the pockets of his jacket. It was the suit he wore when he asked Lea if he looked nice before leaving to go ask Carly out on a date. Although Morgan had become less of a bitch over the years since their earlier years of residency, he still low-key regretted listening to her over buying a tuxedo instead of renting one. He wished he took Dr. Andrews' advice instead. Since Lea wasn't wearing a white dress or a veil, Shaun thought it would make sense for him not to wear a tuxedo designed for black-tie events despite the fact that he wore the tuxedo to Dr. Glassman and Debbie's wedding.

Once Lea and Mike reached the end of the altar where Shaun and the officiator were waiting patiently, Mike gave Lea a kiss on the cheek before placing her hand into Shaun's. Although the origin of that kind-of misogynist wedding tradition dated back to the concept of the father transferring his property (his daughter) to her husband, this did feel kind of heartwarming for Lea.

With Shaun and Lea together at the altar, happily smiling at each other, the officiator began to speak. "Welcome, family and friends, or basically just all seven of you in the audience, so I'm just going to say loved ones," he began with a joke.

Everyone in the room laughed at the comment before they let him continue with his words.

"We gather here today to celebrate the marriage between Shaun Murphy and Lea Dilallo. You have all come here to share in this commitment they make to one another, to offer your love and support to this union, and to allow Shaun and Lea to start their married life together surrounded by the people dearest and most important to them," he continued.

Shaun glared to the right where Debbie and Dr. Glassman were standing, holding hands. They smiled at Shaun; tears were definitely stinging Dr. Glassman's eyes. He then looked to the left at his children, who were sitting in the travel system while his soon-to-be brother-in-law was multitasking the ability to entertain his niece and nephew while also watching his sister get married. He could see Pam and Mike crying. He looked right back at Lea and noticed that she was secreting tears of her own.

They all haven't cried tears of happiness since the twins were born.

"Shaun and Lea have each prepared their own vows that they will read now," the officiator concluded his part of the sermon to let Shaun and Lea talk, starting with Shaun as he pulled out the written vows from his pocket.

"Lea, until I met you, I never thought I would ever enjoy music, drive a car, enjoy shots of tequila stat, or even fall in love," Shaun read from the paper word for word, pausing before resuming. "You helped me become a better person by introducing me to many challenges and risks that were worth taking. You're a very fun person and you make me more. You have also given me two beautiful children. My life has always been better with you in it."

Then, it was Lea's turn to say her part.

"Shaun, until I met you, I never thought I would fall in love again after my first marriage failed," recited Lea as she read from the paper Shaun handed to her. "You also helped me become a better person by encouraging me to be less reckless. You have given me stability and security. You're one of the most honest men I have ever known and you make me more. I am proud of the family we have created. My life is also better with you in it. And I know this isn't in our original vows, but I'm kind of surprised that the twins haven't crapped, barfed, or just lost their minds yet during the ceremony."

Her last sentence earned a bunch of hearty laughs from everyone.

With the vows finally fully exchanged with love, it was the officiator's turn to speak again.

"Shaun, do you take Lea to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and respect her for as long as you both shall live, until death do you part?"

"I do."

"And Lea, do you take Shaun to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and respect him for as long as you both shall live, until death do you part?"

"I do."

"And now, by the power vested in me by the state of California, it is my honor and delight to declare you married. Go forth and live each day to the fullest. You may seal this declaration with a kiss."

Shaun and Lea then exchanged their first kiss as husband and wife. They continued to kiss as their family applauded.

"I love you," Shaun whispered softly to her.

"I love you, too."

In less than three seconds, Dr. Glassman, Debbie, Pam, Mike, and Donnie (with the twins) walked over towards the newlywed couple to exchange congratulations.

"I'm proud of you, Shaun," a teary-eyed Dr. Glassman gushed as he hugged Shaun tightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like this, especially since I also revealed how Shaun and Lea's daughter got her name. The next chapter, Chapter 6, will be the final chapter.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is the final chapter. I hope you all enjoy :)

After Pam and Mike stopped by Shaun and Lea's apartment to pick up the travel crib, the diaper bag (Shaun and Lea made sure that Eleanor's favorite duck and Steven's favorite frog were also packed), other important things, and also Eleanor and Steven, the twins were left with their maternal grandparents, allowing Shaun and Lea some well-deserved alone time.

This wasn't the first opportunity they had received to be alone post-children. The first window of alone time together they had was spent with paranoia. For instance, when they had a date night out for the first time since the birth (the twins were four months old) and left Steven and Eleanor with Dr. Glassman and Debbie, they spent most of it feeling paranoid instead of enjoying their time alone. They would check the baby monitor installed on their phones or annoy Debbie and Dr. Glassman every five minutes with phone calls and texts asking them if their babies were okay. They also had similar feelings when they dropped them off at St. Bonaventure's childcare center when they returned to work.

"Let the honeymoon begin," Shaun announced as soon as the front door was shut and they had the entire apartment to themselves. Lea cutely giggled in response.

"Let's say we start this honeymoon by having sex?" She purred in a seductive tone of voice, pulling her husband into a tight embrace.

"Yes," answered Shaun, wrapping his arms around his wife and then leaning forward to kiss her.

They firmly squeezed each other and kissed passionately, lovingly mingling their tongues together. As they smooched, Shaun reached his hands down below towards Lea's buttocks. He then hoisted her up into his arms, resulting in her yelp in an exciting way as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders and her legs around his waist.

"Shaunie!" She breathed and tittered as they continued to make out, still in their casual wedding attire.

"I'm carrying you to the bedroom," he swooned, feeling some slight discomfort from the pressure of the heels of her combat boots digging into his lumbar and sacral regions.

"Okay," she expressed with love and exhilaration.

Shaun then carried Lea towards their bedroom across their babyproofed apartment, even almost tripping over the babies' activity gym on the way over. He moved the gym out of the path with his foot.

"This apartment may be baby-proof, but it's definitely not adult proof," Lea joked, referring to Shaun almost tripping.

"But at least it's safe for babies and that everything complies with the CPSC safety recommendations," stated Shaun.

It was true, though. Their apartment was baby-proofed to the max.

Stretched across the apartment from the front door to the back porch door was an extra-wide baby gate, completely blocking the babies' entrance into the kitchen. The fireplace also had a baby gate guarding it. Every electrical outlet was obstructed with an outlet plug cover plunged into it or completely covered up. Cords were either concealed with power strip covers or shortened. Most of the cabinets and appliances were locked, even the toilet. The toilet paper rolls even had hair ties around them so the babies wouldn't unroll them and make a mess. Their bathtub (and their shower) had a non-slip mat and a whale-shaped tub spout cover. Most of the furniture was bolted to the wall (the TV strapped to the furniture) and/or had corner guards. They always made sure that every choking hazard or any other item not safe for babies was out of reach (Shaun even taught Lea how to do the infant Heimlich maneuver). And once the babies would start walking, a couple of the interior doors were going to need knob covers while the front and back doors would need lever locks.

Sure, living like this was kind of annoying (especially when it came to undoing the toilet lock whenever one of them had to use the bathroom), but they got used to it.

Shaun and Lea then finally made their way into their bedroom. When they were fully inside the room, Shaun carefully placed Lea down onto the bed and then sat down right next to her on the edge.

As he removed his shoes and socks, Lea reached out to gently caress his arm, grabbing his attention. Her legs were crossed and she was swinging the shapely leg that was draped over her thigh back and forth in a sexy manner; the skirt of her dress pulled up over her thighs to expose her legs.

"Babe, could you untie my boots for me?"

"Sure," Shaun carried out, getting up off the bed and then kneeling down towards Lea's feet to untie her boots and then take them off. He often tied and untied her shoes for her when she was pregnant, and she always felt turned on by it for some reason, especially when they came home from the hospital after a long and tiring day. "Do you want me to take off your socks, too?"

"No," replied Lea, placing her hand over Shaun's shoulder and then leaning in to kiss him. "I can take them off myself, but you will need to help me unzip my dress."

She looked away from Shaun, turning her back towards him, signaling him that he needed to unzip her dress. He unzipped her dress all the way down to where he could see her underwear.

"Is that enough?" Shaun asked. "Or do you want me to continue unzipping past your buttocks and all the way down to your thighs?"

"That's enough," asserted Lea, immediately standing up and then opening her underwear drawer to grab her apple green piece of lingerie. "Because I'm going to do a striptease for you."

"Oh," Shaun bubbled with soft excitement.

"Now you get undressed and wait for me on the bed while I change in the bathroom. I'm not coming out until you are naked or at least half-naked," declared Lea, walking out of the room and closing the door.

* * *

Shaun patiently waited for Lea to change into the piece of lingerie she had grabbed. He was in nothing but his underwear as he tried out different positions to sexily pose on the bed with.

To be frank, sex hasn't been the same for the couple since the twins were born. They weren't having as much sex as they used to. Even once it became physically safe for Lea to have sexual intercourse again after six weeks postpartum, they didn't actually return to having sex again until four weeks later. Many of the moments they spent having sex involved checking the baby monitor every five minutes or getting interrupted by at least one baby needing something. Most of the sexually intimate moments they had now were quickies.

"Are you ready?" He heard her disembodied voice on the other end of the door.

"Yes," replied Shaun.

In less than five seconds, the bedroom door was opened, revealing Lea in her babydoll sleepwear lingerie that he got her as a birthday gift when she was pregnant (because the piece of lingerie she had didn't fit her changing body anymore). The open front had perfectly showed off her bare round belly. Right now, it barely showed her belly, but it didn't stop Lea from opening the front of it.

Shaun admired Lea's beautiful post-pregnancy body from the bed.

She no longer had a "baby bump" (they both hated that term), but there was still obvious evidence that pregnancy had occurred. She still had a bit of a squishy belly, which still had some stretch marks (as did her thighs, hips, and buttocks). The linea nigra that once stretched from below her chest to the top of her pubic region was still there, but slowly fading away. The c-section scar that was below her bikini line was also visible. In addition, Shaun himself had also gained some weight; not just Lea.

As she slowly walked towards the bed, she danced around in a seductive manner - fiddling around with the straps, the fabric of the open front, and the sides of her panties - as Shaun watched with pleasure and excitement while Lea waved her body at him.

She then climbed onto the bed and then onto Shaun's lap, making out with him before pushing him to where he was lying down flat on his back.

He stared upwards at Lea, who had her knees and calves slung over his thighs, and without hesitation, started feeling up her body while they aggressively made out and groped each other while also ripping off the very little articles of clothing they had on.

Shaun then traced a finger across the pink line of her c-section scar. "You're so beautiful," he whispered.

* * *

_Lea rested in the hospital bed in the recovery room, experiencing skin-to-skin contact with her and Shaun's 30-minute old baby girl (both her and her brother wrapped in nothing but a blanket and a cap)._

_It was a mixed birth with her twins - Steven was born vaginally while Eleanor was born via c-section. Because of the c-section, Lea needed to lie flat on her back for a while and be observed by nurses and her doula. She had a catheter placed inside her, the regional anesthesia still hadn't yet worn off, she was being administered fluids via IV, and she hadn't had anything to eat but ice chips._

_"You just had major surgery. You had a c-section and a tubal ligation, so you can't eat anything until you fart," Shaun, who was sitting right at her bedside with their baby boy in his arms, reminded her._

_"I know, but I just really wish I could eat right now," sighed Lea, allowing Eleanor to squeeze her finger with her tiny fist. "I would love some pancakes with strawberries and peanut butter. Yes, I'm still craving peanut butter with everything even after being pregnant. I basically just shoved a human out of my vagina and had a c-section, so I deserve some strawberry and peanut butter pancakes...and some sleep."_

_"You can have some strawberry and peanut butter pancakes as soon as it's confirmed that you don't have postoperative ileus," Shaun promised, looking down into his son's beautiful hazel eyes that matched Lea's. Overall, it felt surreal that he was actually holding a baby that belonged to him and not someone else's baby he just delivered as a doctor...and also the fact that he ended up with twins. "Steve would be very happy to know that I named his nephew after him. Dr. Glassman is happy that 'Aaron' is Steven's middle name."_

_"I'm sure he would, Shaun," Lea let tears form in her eyes as she stared at Eleanor. "Grandma Eleanor would be proud, too."_

_"Also, Stevie has your eyes, Lea," added Shaun, letting Steven pull his finger._

_"I think Nell has yours," Lea agreed, glaring at the little girl's blue eyes that she inherited from her father. She also loved the little pet names she and Shaun had given their children. "Time to switch?"_

_"Okay?"_

_The new parents then carefully switched their newborns; Lea holding Steven and Shaun holding Eleanor._

_After a few seconds, Shaun felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He then pulled it out to see that it was a text from Lea's mother, asking about her daughter and if she was doing okay. Dr. Glassman, Debbie, Lea's parents, and Lea's brother were lingering in the waiting room._

_"Who texted?" Lea queried._

_"Your mom," answered Shaun. "She is asking when they can see us and the babies even though I texted all of them photos of each twin. There is only one picture of Steven and one picture of Eleanor. Maybe they want a picture of both of them together or all four of us."_

_"They can see us as soon as I'm moved to the postnatal ward. I don't want everyone in here watching me while they wait for me to fart. I wasn't even comfortable with any of them in the room while I was exposed from the waist down. I'm also not in the mood for any photos right now," groaned Lea._

_Shaun's phone then made the sound of another text being sent to them._

_"Now your mom texted us that Steven looks like me and Eleanor looks like you," informed Shaun._

_"Really? They're only 30-45 minutes old," scoffed Lea. "Because honestly, I think they still look more like naked mole rats. But they're still cute, though."_

_"Yes, they are," agreed Shaun._

_"Anyway, how long has it been since I was moved from the OR into the recovery room?" Lea asked._

_"It's only been 10 minutes," replied Shaun._

_"Damn it," groaned Lea. "Time goes by too slowly when you're not having fun."_

_Eleanor then let out a tiny whimper before quieting down again._

_"It's weird," said Shaun. "They seem too quiet."_

_"Give them time," chuckled Lea. "In 30 seconds, they're both probably going to be screaming."_

* * *

Hours later, the couple was completely naked under the covers, feeling satisfied with their first moment of sex as a married couple while they cuddled in the spoons position.

"You know what's funny?" Lea began.

"What?"

"It's weird that at this part of the marriage, where the couple has their first moment of intercourse while married, it may be implied that's when the babymaking starts," answered Lea. "That is _if_ they plan on having children at all."

"And we already have two children," reminded Shaun.

"And we now don't have to worry about an accidental pregnancy now that I'm sterile," added Lea. "Also, it feels kind of nice for the apartment to be quiet again. Don't get me wrong, I love our babies, but we needed this break."

"It feels nice to not have to expect to hear any babies crying," admitted Shaun.

"Or have babies gnawing on my nipples or even be pumping breastmilk in my office," added Lea.

"Or have them dropping their food or their bottle onto the floor or onto your head from their high chair."

"Or having to change a diaper and worry about one of them peeing in the middle of changing, especially Steven because he has the ability to pee in our faces," shuddered Lea.

"That's what happens when a baby has a penis," noted Shaun, followed by a laugh from Lea.

* * *

A few minutes later (and also after calling Lea's parents to check in on Eleanor and Steven), Shaun and Lea found themselves in their bathtub, enjoying each other's warmth.

"Honestly, this bath mat feels like a nice cushion compared to the hardness of the tile that hurts your tailbone," perceived Lea as she rested her back against Shaun's chest.

"I agree. Sometimes, I think about how grateful I am that you are alive, especially since the car accident," added Shaun, changing the subject.

"I know," sighed Lea, remembering that frightening event. She was driving and then she swerved and tumbled off the road. She was glad that another vehicle wasn't involved because she would never forgive herself if she killed someone. She wasn't hurt at all, but the entire time she was trapped in the striped tomato, she couldn't help but jump to the conclusion that her babies were dead (or that at least one of them was) when she didn't feel them move, which she had felt the night before. Shaun was in the middle of a surgery when the ambulance arrived with Lea. When Nurse Hawkes barged into the OR to tell him that Lea had been admitted, he immediately dashed to the ER, relieved that Lea was alive but not fully relieved until he could hear the heartbeats of both his children. It was also a hard moment for Lea because she had lost her Grandpa Rod's beloved striped tomato. "And honestly, if we didn't have therapy sessions while I was pregnant, or even after..."

"We would be at a terrible place in our relationship," finished Shaun.

"Yeah, probably," concurred Lea.

"I'm glad you're here with me," proclaimed Shaun, changing the subject back to positivity. "And I'm glad that our children are here with us."

"So am I," Lea smiled back at him, turning around to kiss him on the lips.

This was officially their first night as husband and wife, something they never thought they would ever become. First they were friends, then they were roommates/pals/buddies, then lovers, then parents, and now...here they were, married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the end of this story. Please review :)


End file.
